Welcome back to our run down of the most famous cars of all time. In Part 1, we saw Challengers, Thunderbirds and Tumblers. Now we’re running down the Top 6 most famous cars of all time. Is your favourite somewhere on this list?
#6. 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback GT (Bullit)
Steve McQueen chasing a Dodge Charger through the streets of San Francisco in a Ford Mustang. Chase scenes don’t get much better than that. A critical and box-office smash hit, Bullit has one of, if not the most, influential chase scenes in history.
McQueen’s ’68 Mustang GT is a mean, blacked out monster with 325bhp, a top speed of 130mph and 0-62 in 6.2 seconds. In a battle against the Charger, which has a lower top speed and is heavier, the Mustang will win more often than not, but it’ll be a close thing. As you can see in the video, the Charger understeers like crazy, allowing the Mustang to catch up in the corners.
#5. 1974 Dodge Monaco (Blues Brothers)
Also known as the Bluesmobile, this 1974 ex-cop car carried the Blues Brothers on their mission from God. From prison gates to the Cook County Assessor’s Office, ‘Joliet’ Jake and Elwood Blues race across Illinois pursued by police, good old boys and Illinois Nazis.
And they picked the right car for the job. As Elwood said, “It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It was a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas.” And run good it did, doing 0-60 in a shade over 10 seconds and generating 220bhp. During the filming, the old Dodge managed to reach 118mph. A total of 13 Bluemobiles were used in the film and for many years, The Blues Brothers held the record for most cars destroyed in a film, until G.I. Joe in 2009.
#4. 1982 Pontiac Trans Am (Knight Rider)
The Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT) was the faithful sidekick of The Hoff in the TV show, Knight Rider. The ’82 Pontiac Trans Am was suped up with advanced robotics that included the signature red light pattern on the bonnet. In the show, KITT used a ridiculous array gadgets and technology to help Michael Knight fight crime.
The Trans Am has a 5 litre V8 that produces 150bhp as standard. It has a top speed of 125mph, but thanks to KITT’s clever technology, the Pontiac in the show reaches speeds of over 300mph. In addition to going fast, KITT has over 45 other useful features, such as a flamethrower, onboard ATM and four drive modes.
#3. 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex (Ghostbusters)
Also known as Ecto-1, this ex-ambulance Cadillac is certainly one of the rarer cars on this list. Despite, or perhaps, because of this, the iconic shape and colour cannot help but put you in mind of the Ghostbusters.
It’s a ridiculous machine. Nearly twenty-one feet long, eight feet high and nearly seven feet wide, Ecto-1 weighs nearly three and a half tons. Sure, the V8 cranks out 325hp, but the floaty air suspension and mausoleum curb-weight blunts the performance somewhat.
#2. Aston Martin DB5 (Goldfinger)
James Bond has had more than twenty cars to his name over the years. Some of them are classic, like Rolls-Royces, some are… less so (Citroën 2CV!). The BMW Z8 from The World Is Not Enough has missiles and the Lotus Esprit S1 doubles as a submarine. But nothing compares to the most iconic Bond car of all time: The Aston Martin DB5. Featured primarily in Goldfinger, the DB5 came with all the usual Q Branch refinements which have been copied from movie to movie. These include bulletproof front and rear panels, oil slick, smoke screen, machine guns, rotating number plates, tire slashers, tracer-receiving console and most famously, the passenger ejector seat.
The DB5 features a 3,995cc, short-stroke, straight-six cylinder petrol engine with double overhead camshafts and two valves per cylinder. 282bhp gets you from 0-60 in 7 seconds all the way up to a top speed of 145mph. The Aston Martin DB5 is an undeniable classic and one of the most instantly recognisable cars on Earth.
#1. 1983 DeLorean DMC-12 (Back to the Future)
Well, what else could it be? With its iconic gull-wing doors and space-age brushed stainless-steel body, even people who haven’t seen the film know the DeLorean as a time machine. Famously produced in Northern Ireland, the DeLorean first appeared on January 21st 1981. Around 9000 were built before production halted in 1983. The DMC-12 was the only model produced by Joh DeLorean’s DeLorean Motor Company, which was later liquidated as the US car market went through its largest slump since the 1930s.
The DeLorean’s most striking feature (besides its total lack of paint) is its gull-wing doors. Unlike the lightweight doors you’ll find on the likes of a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, DeLorean doors are heavy and awkward.
A popular misconception of the DMC-12’s gull-wing doors is that they require far more side clearance to open relative to ordinary side-hinge doors. In fact, the opposite is true: the DMC-12 requires far less clearance than side-hinge doors, only 11 inches.
Similar to the Lamborghini Countach, the DMC-12 doors featured small cutout windows, because full-sized windows would not be fully retractable within the short door panels. The DeLorean is powered by a PRV 2.85 litre V6 engine, which produces 130bhp. It could achieve 0-60mph in 8.8 seconds and is considered one of the worst performing engines in history. But who cares? Thanks to the Doc’s modifications, the DeLorean can fly and leave flaming tire tracks when it eventually reaches 88mph. After all, as the man says: “The way I see it, if you’re going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?”
We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the most famous cars of all time. Do you think we missed any? Are there any that are more famous? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page.